What is Red?

The Red One camera is a super high resolution cinema quality camera that can shoot 4k RAW images. 4k refers to the size of the sensor inside the camera, which measures 4096 by 2304. If you compare that to other HD camera sensors, which measures 1920 by 1080 pixels, there will be a huge difference in the shots in terms of detail and colour depth.

 The format comparision below shows the difference between different camera sensors: 

 

The ability in shooting in RAW format delivers a huge advantage over other HD cameras. Shooting in RAW format means that you record the unprocessed, actual information of the image rather than “baking in” information into the image like most cameras do. This makes adjusting things like white balance, ISO, exposure etc. possible without losing the original unprocessed data. Shooting with RAW files has been the norm in still photography for years and this is the basis that the Red One works on.

Even if you’re finishing on a format that is lower than 4k, the Red One is still a great camera to use. If you start off with a 4k image and downscale it for TV or for a 1080p video, you’ll get a crisper and richer image.  Basically the more information you start off with the better the final output will be. Also shooting in 4k then finishing off on a lower resolution format gives you the ability to crop or even re-frame a shot. 4k is also is perfect for green screen compositing as it gives the compositor more pixels to work on.

Another advantage in shooting in 4k means your footage is future-proof. The 4k Raw footage you have will be enough for whatever format you want to finish off, be it for a cinema release, television, the internet or on a printed material. The Red One camera is a powerful tool for almost all media requirements.

Here are some productions that has been shot on the Red One

Feature Films
-    The Social Network
-    District 9
-    Pirates of the Caribbean 4
-    Blue Valentine
-    Rabbit Hole
-    Winter’s Bone
-    The Book of Eli
-    Che
-    Leaves of Grass
-    The Girlfriend Experience
-    Knowing
-    The Lovely Bones
-    Angels and Demons
-    Jumper
-    Green Zone
-    Anti Christ
-    Van Diemen’s Land

Television Series
-    Pretty Little Liars
-    Southland
-    The Cape
-    E.R.

Magazines
-    Vogue
-    Vanity Fair
-    Esquire

 

Coming to Fancy Films in 2011

 

The Epic is Red's new revolutionary cinema camera.

The name is not an overstatement. The much anticipated addition to the RED family is the answer to the professional's wildest dreams and exists as the most sophisticated and capable camera ever engineered and built. In a package one third the size of a RED ONE, resides a 5K Mysterium-X™ sensor and a 27 layer ASIC, the most advanced processor of its type in the world, enabling EPIC to capture up to 120 frames per second, each frame at full 14MP resolution. EPIC is engineered to be a DSMC™ (Digital Still & Motion Camera), a camera that excels in both worlds ... by design. Providing native dynamic range of over 13 stops and resolution that exceeds 35 mm motion picture film, this is the camera of the epoch. Add to that RED's newly developed HDRx™ extended dynamic range technology and EPIC boasts an amazing dynamic range of up to 18 stops. Purpose-built for perfect multi-camera synchronization, EPIC comes to market at a time when 3D capture requires the sophistication of a new generation of innovative technology. EPIC, very simply, is epic. (from red.com)

Productions currently shooting on Epics
-    The Hobbit
-    The Amazing Spiderman
-    Contagion
-    Underworld: New Dawn
-    Jack the Giant Killer
-    Prometheus